


Off My Mind

by Red__Writes



Category: Underfell - Fandom, Undertale, underswap
Genre: Alphyne, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fast Food, Gay, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Slow To Update, Soriel, Soulmates, confused feelings, edgeberry, honeymustard - Freeform, mentions of depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 00:00:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8821498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red__Writes/pseuds/Red__Writes
Summary: Red has always loved life on the surface city. Ignoring the strange space time events that spat multiple Universes out of the mountain, he's happy flatting with his boss and the original Sans and Papyrus, going to college and never looking for or being in a relationship, he couldn't have or need one. Until the Swap brothers move in next door. Suddenly, Red finds himself utterly enraptured but the tall, laid back boss doubleganger known as Stretch, his soul can't seem to get enough of the punny weedbag. The smaller skeleton attempts unjumble his feelings for the taller, he still has to try and continue his normal life, as if these strange emotions didn't exist, he couldn't afford them after what happened. But the thing is... Red can't get him off his mind. (Being continued with slow updates as of 8/5/2018)





	1. 19, 21

**Author's Note:**

> Speech help-
> 
> Tale : normal HTML  
> Papyrus : CAPITALS  
> Sans : lowercase  
> Anyone else : Normal text
> 
> Swap: italic  
> Papyrus: lowercase  
> Sans : CAPITALS  
> Anyone else : Normal text
> 
> Fell: bold  
> Papyrus : CAPITALS  
> Sans : lowercase  
> Anyone else : Normal text
> 
> Any other au that makes an appearance: underlined  
> Anyone : Normal text.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red meets his new neighbor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited 8/5/2018

_The dust of Boss- MY BROTHER, danced in the wind, taunting me with its twisted dance. No matter how many times I see it, I can never stop the tears spilling out of my sockets and the primal cry of despair clawing it's way out of my throat. I fell to my knees and picked up the dark scarf from the ashes, holding it into my face and sobbing for what seemed like eternity._

_Finally, I scooped the dusty scarf out of the snow and wrapped it around my neck, letting it flow loose. Taking a stuttering breath, I teleported. The brat would be there by now._

_Standing taught in the hall, I saw Frisk- no, CHARA, smile at me, blood red eyes making my soul shudder. The kid laughed and gave their old knife, not unlike the one under my pillow at home, an experimental swing. No doubt they were remembering how it felt when it cut into my scarred ribs._

_"Well howdy there, comedian! Are you ready for another round?"_

_They finally stepped over that black, shadowy line. Welp, I tried._

_"heh... you should know better then that by now, brat... i'm gonna have a g r e a t time."_

Red woke up from the nightmare with a gasp, limbs failing as he tumbled off the bed. Moaning and rubbing his skull, he stood up and shook off some of the cold sweat that rolled down his bones. As he was picking up his blankets off the floor, he heard a knock at the door.

**"SANS, YOU LAZY WHELP! YOU BETTER BE OUT HERE IN FIVE MINUTES OR YOU WILL BE LATE! I DON'T WANT REPEAT OF LAST WEEK!"**

Red shuddered and called out to his younger brother.

**"coming boss!"**

Red grabbed his red shirt and black shorts, his favorite basketball ones with the yellow stripe down the front, and headed into his little side bathroom. He turned on the shower and jumped in, hissing at the slow to heat water. Once the water was at a scalding temperature, Red started to reflect on the last year and a half while he scrubbed himself down with mustard soap.

When the kid released them out of the mountain, it became very clear very quickly that they weren't the only monsters coming out of Mount Ebbot. Apparently, some space time glitch made a series of portal's inside the mountain, and said portals reacted to a monsters magic and took them back to their own underground, but when they surfaced they were in the original Universe. Undertale.

Red and his brother, Edge, having given each other nicknames to prevent confusion if they ran into an AU, had found their original doublegangers just weeks after surfacing. The group had gotten on well, so well that the Underfell brothers now lived with the classic Sans and Papyrus. In fact, most of the AU counterparts hung out with each other, the Tales, Swaps and Fells that is.

The two Frisks and Chara were a great example, never apart from each other, being the head ambassadors of the Monster Rights Association, made up of all the Frisks and Charas. The three of them could be seen on TV and magazines all the time, Chara from the underswap universe being the boldest and sassiest, Tale Frisk being the most determined and Fell Frisk, now known as Crimson, being the most shy and timid but the voice of reason, Fell Flowey, known as Azriel, was always with them.

The skeletons had never actually met their Underswap selves, but they were sure it was only a matter of time. Red sighed at the thought and wondered what the Swap him was like. A loud bang dragged him out of his trance.

**"YOU FUCKING CRETIN! GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT! OR I WILL PUNISH YOU!"**

The smaller sighed and turned the shower off before shrugging his clothes on over his scars, each dip and curve in his pristine bones told a story, and he remembered every one. Taking his red and gold spiked collar and attaching it to his neck, he trotted into his room, absentmindedly rubbing the scar the ran from his right eye back. He grabbed his leather hoodie, the one with the fluffy yellow hood, off the back of the door and swung it open, yawning and tasting the metallic flavor of his gold fang on his glowing tongue.

He looked around, his deep red eyelights piercing the few shadows as he wandered the hall to the apartment kitchen. Once he reached the kitchen, the early morning shadows shrunk away from the bright light. The smell of toast, bacon and waffles hit Reds nose and a bit of faintly red drool dripped off his tongue as he licked his fangs.

"HELLO RED!"

"morning red, you finally mustard up the courage to come and face the day?"

**"THAT WAS HORRID, CLASSIC"**

Red snickered at the pun and started packing his school bag. Unfortunately, he would have to get breakfast on the go instead of Papyruses delicious cooking if he wanted to make it to his study group on time. It kinda sucks to still be a college student when all the others finished a year ago, Boss was a vet, Papyrus was a high school teacher and Sans was a programmer, bit that's what he got after the... incident.

He gave a feeble wave to the others as he closed the door, stumbling a bit as he couldn't see past the large pile of books in his arms he couldn't fit into his bag that stretched up past his skull. Knocking the door shut with his foot, he tripped over his own feet as he tried to see past the pile. The sound of the door across from his apartment opening and closing alerted him and he swore inwardly that he couldn't see anything.

Some new neighbors had moved in across the hall, and the four skeletons had been desperate to see them, new neighbors we're always exciting. Unfortunately, only Sans had a stay at home job while the others stayed out till ten or eleven, Red because of damn classes. Classic could never get a glimpse of the newbies anyways, he could never leave his computer until his shift was done. Boss and Papyrus had been meaning to bring them some "Welcome" cookies, but they both had been too busy.

_"need some help there, sans?"_

Suddenly, half the books were taken off the top of his pile, leaving his head and vertebrae exposed. He whipped his head around to snap at the stranger, before his breath got caught in his non existent throat. It was a Papyrus, a cigarette between his teeth, half his books held close to his baggy orange hoodie. Red noticed honey stains on his brown cargo shorts and that the laces on his orange converses were undone.

**"h-how did you know my name?!"**

_"your not the first sans i've met, trust me, the first two i met were.... interesting. what's you name, kid?"_

Red eyed the much taller skeleton up and down, bristling at being called a kid, trying to decide if he should trust him. The other gazed down at him lazily, shifting Reds books in his arms. Finally, making his decision, Red spoke up.

**"Sans Underfell, but they call me Red. I'm 21. What about you?"**

Papyrus smiled and took the cigar out of his mouth.

"Papyrus Underswap, nicknames Stretch. I'm 19. Want some help carrying these books to wherever your going?"

Red grunted and nodded, allowing his Underswap brother doubleganger to follow him into the elevator. As the elevator slid downwards, he couldn't help but notice how good looking the other was. His bones were even whiter than Reds, dipping and curving in all the right places, making his chest and pelvis incredibly attractive-

No! Nope! You can't have those thoughts, and definitely not of a version of his brother! Red mentally slapped himself and tried to fight off the small blush. Well.... Stretch was attractive....

Red and Stretch walked the rest of the way to his study group in almost complete silence, save for the questions Swap asked him. Once they reached the large library where Red would meet his friends, he thanked Stretch. The tall skeleton chuckled and said that Red could come over whenever and meet him bro.

As Red trudged up the stairs, now carrying all his books in a plastic bag Stretch found in his pocket, he tried to keep his wandering thoughts on the studies. He couldn't afford to think about his attractive new... friend? After all, he didn't need new people, he needed to focus on his regular routine....

Before Stretch got stuck on his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red ditches his study group
> 
> Song in this chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcrbM1l_BoI
> 
> Name help:  
> Teal= Underswap!Undyne  
> Claws: Underfell!Alphys  
> G= Echotale!Sans  
> Aster= Echotale!Papyrus  
> Lust= Underlust!Sans  
> Slim= FellSwap!Papyrus (Melle-D on Tumblrs version)  
> Outer= Outertale!Sans  
> Saleos= My own undertale inspired oc (see end notes)  
> Flames= Swap!Grillby  
> Fang= Fell!Muffet

Red groaned loudly, finally reaching the table his study group reserved. Why did Teal always have to choose the one on the 3rd library floor?! Red shook his head and made his way over to his table, waving to his only other friends besides those that he lived with. The other monsters around the black table waved back, all smiling and welcoming, something Red doesn't get much of because he's from Underfell, before turning back to their books, papers and cookies.

 

Red sat down and scanned the group, noticing that they were all here. G, was mumbling something to his brother, Aster, who just shook his head in exasperation, both brothers looking at Red. Teal, Alphys and Claws, were all engrossed in a book that that Teal was holding on Quantum Physics, while Lust, and Slim, looked absentmindedly looked over the girls shoulders. Red, gripping his own oversized pile of books, went and sat down in a free spot next to Outer, and Saleos.

 

" **how ya doing, bud?** "

 

Red asked, pulling his mustard bottle out of his stained jacket pocket and clinking it next to Saleos's water bottle. Red had had a soft spot for Saleos ever since he met the stuttering skeleton-like monster, for they had both lived in fear with only someone else to protect them, but for very different reasons. While Red grew up in fear because of a 'Kill or be Killed' world with his bro toughening him up, Saleos grew scared of other monsters in general after a traumatic incident that Saleos called "his falling."

 

"I'm doing all right! what about you?"

 

" **i'm all good, what's been going on lately**?"

 

"not much, what about you?"

 

Red looked down, managing to stutter out a **"w-well... i met a guy today..."** catching the attention of everyone but the G!Bros who were both listening to obnoxiously loud music through headphones, and Space, who had fallen asleep. Alphys, Teal and Claws looked at him, while Lust and Slim smirked at each other and snickered, no doubt both of them thinking some perverted thing about this. Red shifted uncomfortably under their piercing gaze before continuing.

 

**"I met.... i met the underswap version of boss, stretch his name was. and, he was really nice, taking most of my books and helping me carry them all the way here, because you know i can't teleport with a heavy load, something no one has ever done before because i have red magic. he's probably the tallest papyrus i've ever met and he's really, _really_ attractive, for a papyrus i mean d a m n!-"**

 

"hey, red, ever heard of lust at first sight?"

 

Lust asked with a shit eating grin. Slim was cackling quietly behind him, but glancing around nervously, almost as if he was expecting his Lord to show up. But that wasn't an uncommon occurrence.

 

" **w- _what?! lust!_ "**

 

Reds face was plastered with a hard crimson, never one to take these situations well, as Alphys and Claws squealed and demanded to know when he was gonna see his new 'friend' again, Teal barely able to contain her excitement at the fact that Red had found her Papyrus so attractive, damn fangirls. Red mumbled about how the lived across from each other and that he was invited to come and meet Stretches brother anytime, causing all  three of the girls demand he meet him. And with that, Red gathered up all his important books, most of them had been to give to the others anyway, and hastily departed, not liking this situationm knocking Space off the tan couch in the process, making the shorter skeleton fall on the floor and awaken with a thump.

 

As Red jogged down the stairs, due to the no teleporting to and from school sessions rule that Boss made up, he almost tripped up several monsters and humans, including HappyTale greater dog and a pair of teenagers making out on the bottom flight of stairs. As he burst out of the spinning library doors, he almost bumped into someone, nut narrowly missed the humaniod monster with red fox ears and a tail.

 

Red adjusted himself, shifting his books so that they were under one arm and used his levitation to plug his ear buds into his phone and to tape then to the sides of his skull where his ears would be. He always had a set of head phones or ear buds on him so he could listen to music, a luxury he never had underground. He had a twisted taste of music, ranging from rap to calming pop. He plucked his phone out of his pocket and put his most recently downloaded song, Wake Me Up by Avicii, on repeat before heading out to the nearest cafe for breakfast.

 

_'Feeling my way through the darkness_

_Guided by a beating heart_

_I can't tell where the journey will end_

_But I know where to start'_

 

Red bobbed his head to the upbeat music as he crossed the busy city road, coming to a stop at his favorite café, Fire Spider, run by Muffet, Flames, and Fang. He opened the door and Muffet caught sight of him, rushing off to make his regular. After sitting down in a soft red and purple booth,Red snapped his fingers, his flaming red eye appearing for a moment before fading away as his black and red laptop appeared on the table in front of him, all ready for him to write his  essay on the space time continum, a slice of cake for him. He had just started writing when his order got there, a pumpkin spice latte, a mustard, cheese and bacon toasted sanswitch, shaped like a bone, and an English muffin.

 

_'So wake me up when it's all over_

_When I'm wiser and I'm older_

_All this time finding myself_

_And  I..._

_Didn't know I was lost.'_

 

~*'*~

 

Red stopped typing after half an hour, deciding to finally indulge in something besides his coffee, glancing around as he took a bite of his sanswitch. The place was packed, every table taken up, strangers asking strangers if they could sit with them. The only reason no one came to ask him was because he was a red monster and they thought, because of  that, that they would be harshly rejected. Damn it if Red didn't hate stereotypes.

 

Red almost jumped out of his booth when he heard a smooth voice drawling from next to him. He spun around slowly to face the speaker, already knowing who it was going to be. He was fighting off a small blush that was warring to form on his face as he kept his head down

 

_"hey again, bud. can my bro and I sit with ya?"_

 

**"s-sure stretch."**

 

Red tried to distract himself by taking a chomp out of his muffin, ignoring the towering skeleton across from him. The silence was mostly comfortable, but a little bit awkward, as the only sound was the soft tappping of bone on a keyboard. Suddenly, another presense  plonked itself down across from Red.

 

_"HELLO FELLOW SKELETON! I AM THE MAGNIFICENT SANS UNDERSWAP, BUT YOU CAN CALL ME BLUEBERRY! MWEH HEH HEH HEH!"_

 

**"uh, sup? i'm sans underfell, sans the skeleton. but you can call me red"**

 

Red pulled his hand out of his pocket to shake the other Sanses, which Blueberry happly accepted. He cluched Reds didgets in a strong grip, before pulling away with a sharp yelp, Red chucking with deep laughter. He pulled the joy buzzer off his hand and gave Blue a concerned smile to show that it wasn't meant to be a cruel prank... unlike back at the barred bridge.

 

_'Wish that I could stay forever this young_

_ No afraid to close my eyes _

_ Life's a game made for everyone _

_ And love is the prize' _

  
 

Blueberry returned the smile gently, his (younger?) brother trying to contain his wild snorts of laughter. Red took another sip of his drink before turning back to his essay. It was already mostly finished, like he said, a piece of cake for him. Back in the underground he had always been interested in space time quantum physics, working on his theories between beatings and work, so that when they eventually made it up the the surface he started to take classes in them and get a degree.

 

He was almost halfway through his cause, another six months or so and he can stop working at the hardware store and get a real job like his flatmates. Sans was a stay at home programmer for NASA, his brother was a vet, and the reason they had about 20 cats in the roof of their apartment, and Papyrus was a self defense teacher at the local school with Patch, Swap!Alphys, and Undyne. As Red finished his essay, he quietly wondered what the other two did. They were clearly not collage students of he would have seen them at school.

 

_'I didn't know_

_Didn't know_

_Didn't know'_

 

" **so, what do you two do for a living?"**

Red asked them quietly, half hoping that they wouldn't hear him. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The shorter skeleton got God damned stars in his eyes and the taller looked at him with mild interest and Red attempted to turtle into his hood.

 

_"heh, my bro's married to his work, and you won't catch me sleeping on the job, as much as you **night** want to"_

 

Blueberry shot his brother a look of pure malice before sighing and shaking his head. Turning back to Red, he mutter something about his little brother plaguing his life with terrible puns. Red had to use all of he self control to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

 

_"WELL, I AM A KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, AS I, THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE, HAVE A DEGREE! MWEH HEH EHE HEH!OH! AND PAPY WORKS AS A NIGHT SECURITY GUARD FOR A PIZZERIA, SOMETHING THAT ACCEPTS HIS... SLEEPING PROBLEMS!"_

 

Red glanced at the taller skeleton, where was now also turtled into his hood, with skepticism. Stretch had insomnia, and maybe even nightmares, too? Red knew that he shouldn't jump to conclusions about a skeleton he just met today, but it was highly possible, considering that the two skeletons stitting across from him were from a swapped universe, where everyone was nice, Alphys lead the Royal Guard, Undyne was the scientist, Asgore could make Buttspie and Toriel was crap and naming things. And _anything_ is possible when Toriel sucks at naming something.

 

Red did a quick skim of his work, satisfied for now, before teleporting his books and laptop home. Grabbing the= remainder of the muffin, he stood up and allowed his bones to crack and pop as he stretched, the feeling reliving his cramped magic. Turning to Stretch and his doubleganger, he winked at them.

 

**"welp, that was fun. see ya around."**

 

_"SAFE TRAVELS, OTHER ME!"_

 

_"see ya around, cutie."_

 

Red whipped around and stared at the taller, face a dark crimson. Stretch just smiled lazliy at him, puffing on a ciggarete. Red turned tail and strode out the door, pushing past the pedestrians on his way to work. He would be about an hour early because he rushed out of the study group, but maybe they would pay him to work over time, that would be nice...

 

Anything to get Stretch off his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only claim to own Saleos  
> What Saleos looks like: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh-f-M8gi5U/?taken-by=red._.cosplays


	3. Hardwear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red gets a lil surprise at work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHOS BACK?! Yeah, I am! Sorry I've been gone so long, I've been working with school and art and YouTube, but I'm back for this story, I'm doing an RP on instagram thats reinspired me to do this!
> 
> Song used: What'd I miss- Lin-Manuel Miranda - Hamilton Soundtrack  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FPEwPpSyVE

Red groaned as he slumped against the hardware store counter, glaring at anyone who shot a glance at the spare cashier. He was waiting impatiently for his shift to end in fifteen minutes, tapping his foot to the beat in his head as he glared around, using the 'red monsters are evil bastards' thing to keep away customers. He didn't love his job, heck, he downright hated it, but he could stand around for 2 hours doing nothing and get paid for it. He normally took this time to sleep on slow days, finding the sluggish pace exhausting, but today was awfully busy, meaning a few people would be tempted to brave a red monster.

 

The gruff skeleton was staring at the old barely ticking clock when another person hoisted themselves up onto the bench of his checkout station. He turned around, prepared to snap at the person before letting out a small sigh and giving them a weak smile when he saw who it was. The child looked around shyly, the black hood of their red and black striped hoodie pulled over their head, hiding their messy chestnut bangs. A pot with a timid yellow flower was held tight in the kids arms, the little face on the golden plant showing fear and aniexy. The unlikely pair smiled back at Red, the child placing the plant down on the counter.

**"H-hi Sans!"**

 

**"heya kiddo, what's the ambassator of underfell doin in this joint?"**

 

Azriel looked up at Frisk from where he was sitting. The former prince of terror and death was clearly shaking, he didn't like being out in public. Back in the Underground, when the sentient flower went by Flowey, being exposed like this was fatal. Red couldn't quite comprehend that this scared little plant used to be the fearless Asriel, the brutal heir to the throne, until the fatal accident that ended with Asriel getting very ill and dusting. The story had mostly been lost to dust, time and madness, but the effect of what happened was enormous. The queen went insane with grief at the loss of her two children and the king grew hard and twisted after Toriel fled, leaving the whole kingdom victim to Asgores sadistic ways. Sans smiled at the tattered flora before looking back at Underfells savior, the child in question fiddling with their bangs, a habit they got into when they were feeling shy or nervous.

 

**"I just wanted to s-say hi, Sansy, I-I knew you were on your s-shift and Mom said that I s-should have some time, j-just me and Az away from the other Frisk and Chara. S-so I came to see you, I haven't seen y-you in ages, b-because of your school and the Ambassity, w-w-what have you been up to?"**

 

Red sighed and stretched his joints, yawning. He glanced at the clock and thought about what to say, the only really interesting thing that had happened to him was the Underswap brothers, or rather, Underswap Papyrus... Blinking, Red mentally cursed himself for getting Stretch on his mind again after 3 hours of clarity. Seriously, he was just a lazy Papyrus! _Why is he so damn **attractive**?!?!!??!! _ Frisk waved a hand in front of his face and Sans snapped out of his daze, chuckling apologetically at the anomaly.

 

**"sorry kiddo, zoned out. well, i finally met charas sans and pap, they moved in next door. had breakfast with 'em today at the fire spider, blues... well he's like classic on caffeine and steroids at the same time while he's really excited about something, and stretch... whooo boy kiddo, don't think i've seen a sexier lookin monster in a long time."**

 

_"sweet of ya to say that, red."_

 

Red choked on thin air as he felt his eyelights go out, his face turning bright red. Standing next to the counter where Crimson sat, was Stretch, holding a couple of cans of paint and smoking a cigarette with a lazy grin plastered on his face. A very light orange blush was on Papyruses cheeks as he walked up and pet the snickering Azriel, the small plant squeaking before hesitantly leaning into the tall skeletons touch, deciding that he liked this monster. Red hid his face in his hoodie and shoved his hands in his pockets, letting the hood fall over his face.

 

**"t-the hell ya doin 'ere, prick?"**

 

Papyrus chuckled and looked over his shoulder, explaining in a lazy drawl that they we're picking up stuff to paint their apartment. His brother soon appears with armloads of decorations and such and the biggest goddamn stars in his eyes, the same color of the scarf around the pushy little skeletons neck. Blue scolded Stretch for smoking as Red scanned their items, glad that after this he could escape to a place where Stretch couldn't randomly and conveniently show up. Red boxed up the painting and decorating things in a box and took Blues money, not saying a word, too mortified that Stretch had heard him call the tall skeleton sexy. Said skeleton kept shooting Red looks as he boxed their stuff, the red monster saw each one out of the corner of his eye as he worked, not looking up.

 

Sans finally boxed up the things and handed them to Blue, ripping off his name badge and rapidly putting up the 'go to the next counter' sign before fishing out his earbuds, saying bye to the kiddo and Azriel, and putting his music on shuffle, one of his favorite songs coming on. He was about to walk back to his apartment, he needed to talk to Boss about the teleporting rule, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. The angry little skeleton turned around and saw Papyrus behind him, the fine boned skeleton smoking again with a light blush still on his cheeks. The tall skeleton held out a slip of paper with a line of numbers on it, his mouth twisted into a smirk.

 

_ 'How does the bastard orphan _

_ Immigrant decorated  war vet _

_ Unite the colonies through more dept? _

_ Fight the other founding fathers 'til he has to forfeit  _

_ Have it all, loose it all _

_ You ready for more yet?' _

 

_"hey buddy. i was wonderin if you wanted to hang out at the museum tomorrow? they have a new exhibit on space, thought ya might wanna see it, ya like space, right?"_

 

Red looked up at Stretch, slightly shocked. No one had ever offered to do something like that with him, not even the classic bros. Sans checked Stretches eyes and body language, just to make sure he wasn't lying, but he seemed relaxed and serious, so Sans took the piece of paper. Sanses cheeks blossomed a soft red color as he realized this attractive skeleton was giving him his number.

 

**"s-sure, i guess. how'd ya know i like space?"**

 

The tall skeleton shrugged, saying that he noticed that all of Red school books where on physics and space, making Red's face become more of his name sake colour. Why the heck had Papyrus bothered to remember such a minor detail? Eh, must just be a nice, observant, punny, attractive guy that anyone would be lucky to- Red gave himself another mental slap for letting his attraction for the taller make his mind drift off again. He was just so.. he didn't know, there was just something about him that drew in Red. It was just how attractive he was, Sans chastised himself for thinking he even had a type. He fell for looks, not personality, thats why he had had so many bad relationships in the past.

 

_ 'France is following us to revolution there is no more status guo _

_ But the sun comes up and the world still spins _

_ I helped Laffyette draft a declaration than I said I gotta go _

_ Gotta be in Monticello _

_ Now the work at home begins _

_ So what'd I miss?' _

 

Red thanked Stretch and promised to text a time to meet tomorrow, never mind that they lived next door to each other. Red just shrugged and watch as Stretch teleported off to do whatever, work maybe? He didn't know, but he kinda wanted to. Red wanted to learn more about his attractive new friend, that was one of the reasons he accepted the number. He thought about it as he walked through the mid afternoon sun, his trashy old sneakers hitting the tarmac to the beat of the songs catchy, upbeat tune, knowing these thoughts would have to be few once he got home, he had tests to study for.

 

The gold fanged skeleton gazed at the bustling city life as he walked, wondering why Stretch was even bothering with him. Stretch seemed like a funny, sweet, kind monster, those types never really bothered to get to know the scary, mean, evil red monsters, not to mention how damn well built Papyrus was. Sighing, Red stared at the ground as he continued to walk, the thoughts plaguing him. Stretch could get any girl he wanted, hell, he was probably the straightest guy around and had a really nice girl of his own, he was only being nice to Red because they where neighbors. Sans kicked a rock as he entered the elevator that would take him to his apartment, he hated being gay sometimes, and attracted to nice, tall skeletons. The tiny red skeleton scowled at the ground before, sighing and and rubbing his temple, trying to get the rational but negative thoughts out of his head, he was almost home, he didn't really like people seeing him like this.

 

_'Thomas, we are engaged in a battle for our nations very soul_

_Can you get us out of the mess we're in?_

_Hamiltons new financial plan is nothing less than govement control_

_I've been fighing for the South alone_

_ Where have you been? _

_ Uh, France? _

_ We have to win _

_ Well, what'd I miss' _

 

Red plastered a smile on his face as he reached his apartment and saw his brother and Papyrus arguing about something, with Classic tapping away on his computer in the background. He laughed as his double sent out a witty pun about cooking, turning all eyes on him. He just waved at them and said that he was going to go study for an test tomorrow, one that would determine if he would get his masters degree on quantum physics. Boss nodded and said that since Red had a test tomorrow he could teleport to school, making the small skeleton smile brightly and thank his brother before heading off to his room, promising to be out for dinner.

 

_ 'Mister Jefferson, welcome home _

_ Mister Jefferson? Alexander Hamilton _

_ Mister Jefferson, welcome home _

_ Mister Jefferson, welcome home sir you've been off in paris for so long _

_ So what'd I miss? **'** _

 

Red slumped down in his desk and pulled a quantum physics book out of a joke book, opening it up and starting to read. Sans pulled a piece of gum out of his pocket and chewed on it as he studied, writing down notes and tapping his foot to the beat of whatever song was on, the short skeleton glad he had just put the Hamilton album on shuffle. Time flew by as he wrote and read, eventually filling up a whole page of his note paper so he had to tear it off and start a new page. By 6 pm, he had filled up several pages with important little notes and Boss was banging on the door, saying that he needed to get out and come eat with everyone else, as Boss had cooked that night and demanded every time that Red sampled the Terrible Papyruses cooking.

 

Chuckling to himself, Red took off his earbuds and went out to sit at the table in between Classic and Boss, opposite to Papyrus. He looked down at the lesanga and picked up a fork with a shaky hand, dinners at the table with other people was still a little new to him and they always made him nervous and a little worried that he was going to do something wrong, even though he had been doing this for a while. Back in the Underground, he ate on the floor, and Papyrus and Classic knew this, out of all the things Boss did to him before they were free, so they didn't give a hard time at the table, but that didn't stop nerves from shooting his soul every time, turning him into a submissive pet again every day at 6pm over something simple as dinner at the table.

 

"SO, RED, DO ANYTHING EXCITING TODAY?"

 

Papyrus looked down at Red with genuine interest, making the shorter shrink into himself as more eyes joined Papyruses stare the longer he stayed silent.

 

**"w-well... i met the swap sans and papyrus today?"**

 

**"YOU DID _WHAT??!?!?"_ ** "YOU DID _WHAT??!?!?"_

 

"...ya didn't think to tell us this when you got home?"

 

All three skeletons stared at Red in awe, as non of them had met their Underswap doubles before. Sans quietly spoke up, so that he wouldn't scare his double, and asked where he met them.

 

**"they... t-they live next door, they're our new neighbors... i m-met papyrus on my way to the study, he helped me w-with my books, a-and i met sans at the fire spider with his b-brother... they c-c-call themselves stretch and blueberry... the sans is blue, he acts a lot like papyrus, b-but a bit different and stretch acts l-like classic but a b-bit different... i'm meeting stretch tomorrow for a space t-thing, just me and him... he g-gave me his number."**

 

"so like a date...?"

 

Red let out at startled squeak at Classics suggestion, before looking down to try and hide the red blush that had worked it's way onto his cheeks. He stuttered out a 'n-no..', but Classic and Boss obviously didn't believe him from the look they shared, smirks on both of their faces. Boss casually leaned forward and asked Red if he was sure, and that was the last straw for the small skeleton.

 

**" _yes_ , i'm sure, boss! he just gave me his number encase i was out or vise versa! it  _doesn't matter_ how fucking sexy or funny or nice or caring i think ** **he is, i'm pretty damn sure he's _straight_ , or aromatic, or _anything_ that would stop him from liking a _pathetic, ugly red monster_ like  _m e_.  w e  a r e  j u s t  n e i g h b o r  s**

 

Red abruptly stood up, tears pricking his eyes as he stormed off, growling something about how he wasn't hungry. He didn't know why the teasing made him so upset, but he didn't really care, not right now. He didn't see the guilty look on Classics face or the exasperated but worried look on Bosses or the plain concern on Papyruses, he just went to his room and slammed his door, wiping away the streaming tears of frustration and snatching up his headphones before curling up on his bed. Red felt exhausted from his emotional outburst, his crack in his mask, and just wanted to sleep now, he had always been a lazybones after all.

 

He had only known the guy for 24 hours and already he would do anything to get Stretch off his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative ending: Stretch jumps through there window and shouts im gay before jumping back out


End file.
